A Twist of Worlds
by mudpie102
Summary: Post-avengers, Loki is sent to middle-earth for a punishment. Starts off as The Hobbit but goes onto The Lord of the Rings.
1. Chapter 1

The dwarves and Bilbo had fallen into the goblin city. Goblins came and surrounded them to bring them to the goblin king. Bilbo hid out of sight and watched in despair as his companions were led to their certain doom. He followed them, hoping to save them but ran into a goblin on the way. They fought and fell of the ledge. Bilbo landed in a bush of slimy green, cabbage looking leaves. He was about to get up when he noticed a slimy looking creature, it grabbed the goblin by the legs and when the goblin stirred it violently hit it in the head with a stone. A squelching sound was heard and the goblin went limp.

Meanwhile, the dwarves were led into the presence of the goblin king. Beside him was a prisoner, chained to the throne. He had slicked back black hair, was the height of a man and seemed to have various injuries littered on his body. He wearily looked up at them. Thorin met his eyes and observed him, his ankles and wrists were handcuffed, chain connected his hands to the arm of the goblin kings throne. He had obviously been whipped recently as his clothing was black boots with a skinny pair of black jeans, his chest was bare and blood tricked down from the whip lashings. His face displayed pain.

"What have we got here? Dwarves?Thorin, I see, king under the mountain. Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain, and you're not king. That makes you, no one really."Thorin was trying to keep his temper down.

Just then, a bright light erupted from the wall and Gandalf came, killing all the goblins in his path. The dwarves joined in, axes flying.

"Make sure nothing happens to the prisoner!" the goblin king shouted to his goblins.

A group of goblins surrounded the black haired man. Weapons drawn. Only now did Gandalf notice him. Gandalf made his way towards him. Swiping goblins out the way. Sending a blast of magic at the chains holding him to the throne and retrieving a key from a pocket of one of the dead goblins. He signaled for the dwarves to follow him.

Bilbo, during that time, had found a magic ring that made you turn invisible and had bested the creature in a game of riddles. He stood in a tunnel before the creature and saw his companions and Gandalf rush past. Taking a deep breath he, gathered his courage and leaped over the creature. Following a bit behind his companions, he came out into the sunlight.

Gandalf counted the dwarves, 13 in total. Good. But where was Bilbo? And who was this new chap?


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2

"Bilbo shall not be with us any longer. He has been lost ever since he stepped out of his home. Now, he has taken the chance to leave us, preferring to stay in comfort. He is no burglar of ours!"Thorin told the others.

Bilbo stepped out behind the trees." I am your burglar, I signed the contract,"

"Why did you come back?" Thorin asked.

"I know you doubt me, and I know you always have. Your right, I do miss my bed, my food. That's my home. And that's why I'm here. Because you don't have one. And I want to help you find yours, if I can."

The black haired man clapped sarcastically, as well as the chains would allow him to do so.

"Well I have to say, this is all very touching, but if you would be so kind as to release me from my bonds I will be on my way."

Gandalf would of generally obliged. However, he felt a presence around this man, something... evil. He would question him first, find out more about him.

"What kin are you?"

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose!" He exclaimed.

"Loki, how come you by the goblins?"

"That is of little concern to you."

" Tell us your story and only then will we let you go."

"Fine. Where to start? I had a brother. Thor. He was older than me, and always got all the attention. I was skilled in magic. And in Asgard, that was frowned upon. I always lived in his shadow. One day my brother got banished for his foolish actions, my father, the king of Asgard, then told me I was adopted. That I was really the son of our enemies, the frost-giants. He then fell into the Odin-sleep. I tried to kill my brother, bla bla bla. Then I fell off a bridge into a void. There I joined the Chitauri, an alien race and tried to rule Midgard. But an ugly green creature threw me into a floor a number of times and we were defeated.

My brother took me back to Asgard. My fa... no Odin, banished me to become the king of the goblins, slave, in this realm. Can you release me now?"

"No!"

"But you said...

"I'm hardly going to let you go after you told me you tried to take over a world and kill your own family. Even if they adopted you."

Thorin then spoke up " Unbind his ankles, we don't want him slowing us down. But be careful, he sounds dangerous."

Gandalf knelt down and unlocked the heavy steel manacles on his ankles.

Bilbo had questions of his own to ask, for if Gandalf had explained it all to the dwarves by now, Bilbo had not heard it. He wanted to know how the wizard had turned up again, and where they were all now.  
Gandalf, to tell the truth never minded explaining his cleverness more than once, much to Loki's frustration, so he told Bilbo that both he and Elrond has been well aware of evil goblins in that part of the mountains. To which Loki pointed out that obviously they did not know much as they has not known about him being sent there. But the goblins main gate used to come out by a different pass, one more easy to travel by, so that they often caught people near the gates. Loki commented that that may be so unless they were sent to them by a horrible miserable king because his adopted son had been misbehaving. Evidently people had given up going that way, and the goblins must have opened up their new entrance at the top of the pass the dwarves had taken, quite recently, as it had been quite safe up until now. When Loki said him and the Elrond chap seemed quite stupid Gandalf said to shut up. Loki replied that he would if he unchained him. But Gandalf blatantly refused.

"I must see if I can't find a more or less decent giant to block it up again" said Gandalf "or soon there will be no getting over the mountains at all."

But of course Gandalf had had a special study of bewitchment's with fire and lights. He had to keep his head in the tunnels and guide them to the right direction.

"They made that gate ages ago" he said " partly for a way of escape if ever they needed it, or as a way into the lands beyond. They will guard it protectively after this I imagine." he laughed.

All the others laughed too apart from Loki. After all they had lost a good deal, but they had killed the goblin king, and a great many others beside, and they had all escaped, so they might be said to have had the best of it so far.

But Gandalf called them to their senses "We must be getting along, now that we are a little rested they will be after us in hundreds when night falls, especially now that we have Loki in our company. They can smell our footsteps for hours and hours after we've passed. We must be miles on before dusk. There will be a bit of a moon, if it keeps fine, and that is if we're lucky. Not that they mind the moon that much but it will give us a little light to steer by.

"Oh yes" he said in answer to most of the questions from the hobbit "You lose track of time in goblin tunnels. Today is Thursday and it was Monday night or Tuesday morning that we were captured. We have gone miles and miles and have come right down onto the heart of the mountain, and are now on the other side - quite a shortcut. But we are not at the point to which are pass would have brought us. We are too far to the north, and have some awkward country to go on ahead and we are still pretty high up. Let's get a move on."

Great, Loki thought to himself. Crossing awkward country would be fun with his arms chained behind his back. Unless he tried to prove himself to them so they might trust him. What a plan.

"I am so dreadfully hungry" Loki groaned, who was suddenly aware that he had not had a meal for four days. The goblins were not pleased about giving him their food so they dangled it from a chain and made him try and beg or jump up for it on a leash. He could never reach it. Especially not being able to stretch up with the cuts covering his chest "and cold" he added feeling the bitter wind strike his naked skin.

"Can't help it" replied Gandalf.

As they went on Loki looked from side to side for something to eat, but the blackberries were still only in flower, and of course there were no nuts, the other things he had never seen before and was not keen on taking a risk. He drank from a mountain stream that crossed the path and ate three wild strawberries that he found on the bank. But it was not that good and looked rather undignified without the use of his hands. Worsened terribly when Thorin seized the chance to nudge him in, leaving him soaking and shivering and bleeding and in a foul mood. Nearly all the dwarves laughed which did nothing to ease his temper.

They still went on and on. The rough path dispatched. The bushes, and the long grasses between the boulders, the patches of rabbit-cropped turf, the thyme and the sage all vanished and they found themselves at the top of a wide steep slope of fallen stones, the remains of a landslide. When they began to go down this rubbish the small pebbles rolled away from their feet; soon larger bits of split stone went cluttering down. Loki was finding it very hard and he slipped, into Ori who slipped into Dori and so on until they were all huddled together, in a fearful confusion of slipping, rattling and cracking slabs and stones.

It was the trees at the bottom that saved them. They slid into the edge of a climbing wood of pines that here stood right up the mountain slope from the deeper, darker forest of the valley below. Some caught hold of the trunks and swung themselves sinto the lower branches, some - like Loki and Bilbo - got behind a tree to shelter from the onslaught of the rock. Soon the danger was over, the slide had stopped, and the last faint crashes could be heard as the largest of the disturbed stones went bounding and spinning among the bracken and the pine-roots far below.

"Well, that has got us on a bit" Said Gandalf "Even goblins tracking us will have a job to come down here!"

" I daresay" grumbled Bombur " but they won't find it difficult to send stones bouncing done on our heads." The dwarves and Bilbo were feeling far from happy and were rubbing their bruised and damaged legs and feet.

"Where is Loki?" Thorin asked. The dwarves frantically searched around in the rubble and the surrounding area in case he had sneaked off. Though that would be stupid as Gandalf had the only key to his handcuffs.

"Over here!" Bofur called out. Loki's bruised and battered body was lying underneath a boulder. He was out cold but still had a pulse.  
The dwarves decided they would try and clean his wounds a bit but as soon as Balin touched his skin he jolted awake and hissed. Wriggling away from him and everyone else who was surrounding him. "Don't touch me, don't ever touch me!" he exclaimed. The look in his eye was hostile but they could see he was scared. That he was re living a memory. They saw how close he was to breaking.

"We only mean to make you better," they assured him, but Loki was having none of it.

"That what they all say, but they all lie. Just stay away from me. I don't want your pity. I do t want anything. I don't want to live. Just kill me. End my pointless existence." by the time they had finished he was sobbing, his body wracked with them. Gandalf reached forward to unlock his handcuffs but he scampered away into the shadows where he sat by a tree and rocked himself forwards and backwards. Whispering to himself in a chant 'just kill me ' over and over again.

"Loki," Gandalf called out " If you can, we must turn aside here out of the path of the slide. We must be quick. Look at the light!"

This time no muttering or complaints came from Loki he just silently obliged.

The sun had long gone behind the mountains. Already the shadows were deepening about them, thigh far away throgh the trees and over the black tops of those growing lower down down uy could see the evening lights on the plains beyond. They limped along now as fast as they were able down the gentle slopes of a pine forest in the path leading southward. At times they were pushing through a sea of bracken with tall fonds rising above them, at times they were marching along quiet as quiet over a floor of pine needles, and all the while the forest got heavier and the forest silence deeper. There was no sound that evening and to bring even a sea sighing into the branches of the trees.

"Must we go any further?" Bilbo asked, when it was so dark he could ou see Thorin's beard wagging beside him, and so quiet that he could hear the dwarves breathing like a loud noise. "My toes are all bruised and bent, and my legs ache, and my stomach is wagging like an empty sack,"

"A bit further," said Gandalf.

They struggled on for a while longer, but were forced to a stop when Loki started whimpering, taking turns on guard. It was still dark when they awoke. When Loki awoke they all stared at him, seeing what would happen. He seemed completely unaware of himself the day before, commenting with a snide remark "Something wrong with my face?"

They looked away embarrassed, muttering excuses. Gandalf spoke "Do you want me to unchain you?"

"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Loki looked away, not answering. What could he say? Gandalf reached forward with the key, he tried to avoid contact with his skin, well aware of what happened last time. He briefly knocked his back in the process. Loki flinched "Are you okay?" Gandalf inquired.  
Loki nodded once but did not speak. Perhaps he was aware of the events of the day before. As soon as he was out of his handcuffs they heard a howl, down the hill, a long shuddering howl. The howl was answered by another to the right, and a good deal nearer to them, then by another not far away to the left. It was wolves howling at the moon, wolves gathering together.

For Gandalf and the dwarves it meant danger that must be dealt with. But for Bilbo it was a terrible fright. He had never encountered wolves before and the tales that were told about them in the Shire were none too friendly. But for Loki it meant an entirely different thing. He felt they needed protection. His son was a wolf and had been taken away by Odin as a cub. Loki had been forbidden to see him.

"What shall we do!" Bilbo cried "Escaping goblins to he caught by wolves!"

"Up the trees, quick!" Gandalf cried, and they ran to the trees at the edge of the glade, hunting for those that had branches fairly low, or were slender enough to swarm up. They found them as quick as ever they could and up they went as high as they could ever trust the branches. Fili and Kili were at the top of a tall Christmas tree like larch tree. Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin and Gloin were more comfortable in a huge pine with regular branches sticking out at intervals like the spokes of a wheel. Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and Thorin were in another. Dwalin and Balin had swarmed up a tall slender fir with few branches and were trying to find a place to sit in the greenery of the topmost Boughs. Gandalf and Loki were a good deal taller than the others, and had found a tree into which the others could not climb, a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade.

And Bilbo? He could not get into any tree, and was scuttling shot from trunk to trunk, like a rabbit that has lost it's hole and has a dog after it.

"You've left the burglar behind again!" said Nori to Dori, looking down.

"I can't always be carrying burglars around on my back," said Dori " down tunnels and up trees! What do you think I am, a porter?"

"He'll be eaten soon if we don't do something," said Thorin, for there were howls all round them now, getting nearer and nearer. "Dori!" he called down, for Dori was the lowest down in the easiest tree,"Be quick, and give Mr Baggins a hand up!"

Dori was really a decent fellow n spit of his grumblings. Poor Bilbo could not reach his hand even when he climbed down to the bottom branch and hung his arm down as far as he could. So Dori actually climbed out of the tree and let Bilbo scramble up and stand on his back.

Just at that moment the wolves trotted howling into the clearing. All of a sudden there were hundreds if eyes looking at them. Still Dori did not let Bilbo down. He waited until he had clambered off his shoulders into the branches, and then he jumped for the branches himself. Soon, there was a whole pack of them yapping around their tree.

Lucky they do not climb trees so they were safe for a time. Hundreds of them came and started having a council so to say. Gandalf was not happy just to idly stand by and watch whilst the wolves planned below him. He grabbed a pine cone and set it on fire. He threw it at a wolf and it yelped in pain as it's fur caught on fire. Gandalf proceeded to throw them at various wolves.

Loki had gathered of his magic back. He used it to good use and put out the flames. But it was too late to do any difference and the wolves fled. Loki's chains were designed to suppress his magic, however he would be able to use them when not on. That was not a concern of Odin's though as he was planning on him being chained all the time.

Once the threat had cleared, they clambered down from the trees. Gandalf had noticed Loki and his spell casting and put the handcuffs back on him behind his back when they reached the ground.

"What did he do?" Thorin asked.

"He was helping the wolves. Putting out the fires with his magic. He can only use his magic when not chained. He has good inside of him but we will need to be able to trust him before allowing him freedom and the ability to use his magic." Gandalf explained.

Loki said nothing to try and justify his actions. Just hung his head in shame. They had all grown to like Loki, in the end. Then Thorin spoke up "Why, Loki?"

Loki took a shuddering breath before answering. "My...my son. Is... wolf. Odin took...took him away, he was only a cub," he was trying his hardest not to break down "I just... wanted to... to protect them,"

Bilbo had completely forgotten about his sensitiveness and reached out a hand to pat his back reassuringly. His hand made contact and Loki completely lost it, lunging forward and attempting to attack Bilbo without his fists. He could not do much damage however, as Gandalf was quick on the scene, restraining him by his

arms. This only enraged him further, causing him to struggle desperately. Gandalf did the only thing he could do and knocked him unconscious with his staff.

Attracted by the disturbance in the forest, the eagles came swooping down. Gandalf explained what had happened and the trouble in which they were in. The eagles, hearing the news offered to carry them closer the misty mountains. When Loki came to he was in the claws of a giant bird. He panicked, but soon stopped, realizing it was for a pointless cause.

His bird landed and he was placed gently on the rock below. He manged to wriggle round on his back, get into a kneeling position and from there managed to awkwardly stand up. No easy set up camp their, and Loki was put on first watch. With Gloin though, they did not trust him not to slit their throats in the middle of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the short chapter and (very) long wait. I could give you a list of excuses but I won't. I've got all my writing mixed up in different places but I'll try and piece it all together. Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites.**

When the sun rose Gandalf decided to let the company know his plans. He had decided to leave them for a while, he was planning on this before hand but with the arrival of Loki he had been troubled in what was the best path of action.  
"Friends, Loki," he began, gaining the attention of all of his company " I must leave you soon, however I will stay with you to help find food and ponies so you can safely cross Mirkwood, I trust Loki will behave himself." he ended with a stern look at Loki to which he looked embarrassed and broke the eye contact between each other."And there's someone I want you to meet," Gandalf added.

"I must go and find him soon" Gandalf informed them " If all goes well you'll have a safe place to stay for a while." they begged him not to go, offering him jewels and the like but he refused.

After that they stopped pleading. Then they took off their clothes and bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and stony at the ford. All except Loki, who sulked by the side next to Gandalf. When they had dried in the sun, which was now strong and warm, they were refreshed, if still sore and a little hungry. Soon they crossed the ford (carrying Bilbo) and then began to march through the long green grass and down the lines of the wide-armed oaks and the tall elms.

"Why is it called the Carrock?" asked Loki as he went along at Gandalf's side.

"He called it the Carrock, because carrock is his word for it. He calls things like that carrocks, and this one is _the_ Carrock because it is the only one near his home and he knows it well."

"Who calls it? Who knows it?" Bilbo butted in. Loki got very annoyed when Bilbo did that, he was almost as bad as Thor. Almost though, not quite. No one had ever managed to beat Thor on Loki's annoyingness scale. Odin was just top on the hate scale.

"The somebody I spoke of - a very great person. You must all be very polite when I introduce you. I shall introduce you slowly. Two by two, I think; and you _must_ be careful not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be appalling when he is angry, though he is kind enough if humored Still I warn you he gets angry easily!"

" Well, I never got on with those sort of people!" remarked Loki, recalling the Hulk and (yet again) Thor. Gandalf looked at him. "I'll try though, I'll try!" Loki said.

The dwarves all gathered around when they heard Gandalf talking like this to Loki. "Is that the person you are taking us to now?"they asked. "Couldn't you find someone more easy-tempered? Hadn't you better explain it all a bit clearer?" - and so on.

"Yes it certainly is! No I could not! And I was explaining very carefully!" answered Gandalf crossly "If you must know more, his name is Beorn. He is very strong, and he is a skin-changer."

" A what!"

" He is a skin-changer!He changes his skin: sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard.I can not tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions any rate he is under no enchantment but his own. He lives in an oak-wood and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly as marvelous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt and eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives mostly on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide. I once saw him sitting all alone on the top of the Carrock at night watching the moon sinking towards the Misty Mountains, and I heard him growl in the tongue of bears: "The day will come when they will perish and I shall go back!" That is why I believe he came from the mountains himself!"

They all had plenty to think about, and asked no more questions. They still had a long way to walk before them. Up slope and down dale they plodded. It grew very hot. Sometimes they rested under the trees.

They soon cane to a wooden gate, high and broad, beyond which they could see gardens and a cluster of low wooden buildings, some thatched and made of unshaped logs: barns, stables, sheds and a long low wooden house. Inside on the southward side of the great hedge were rows and rows of hives with bell-shaped tops made of straw. The noise of the giant bees flying to and fro and crawling in and out filled the air.

Gandalf and Loki pushed open the heavy creaking gate and went down a wide track towards the house. Some horses, very sleek and well-groomed, trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces; then off they galloped to the buildings.

"They have gone to tell him of the arrival of strangers." said Gandalf.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**

**I'm not that happy with this chapter, it was mainly to get me back into writing this story. The next few chapters will probably be short because I find it easier to do short updates regularly other than long ones occasionally. I get daunted by them, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and with Summer coming I should be able to get more done!**

_They have come to tell him of the arrival of strangers," said Gandalf._

Soon they saw him, a large man with a thick black beard and hair with bulging muscles in in his bare arms and legs. A tunic of wool hung off his broad shoulders and fell down to his knees, as he was resting on an axe. He was situated in a huge courtyard, surrounded by three walls formed by the wooden house and it's two long wings. The horses from earlier were there, standing close to him in loyalty.

"Look, here they come!" he exclaimed to the horses "You can go, they're not any danger," He chuckled heartily, putting his axe down and strolling over to where Loki and Gandalf stood.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked in his deep voice, towering tall over even Gandalf.

"I am Gandalf"

"And who's this? A prisoner?"

"It's complicated,"

"But who is he?"

"He is Loki, but he is not from these parts,"

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" he said to Loki, chuckling all the way.

"No." he replied bluntly "The bear does," a smug smile catching at the corner of his thin lips. Gandalf shot him a warning glance.

"Anyway, I am a wizard." continued Gandalf "I see you have not heard of me, but perhaps you have heard of my cousin, Radagast. He lives near the Southern borders of Mirkwood."

"Oh yes, I have heard of him. Seen him a few times, not recently though. Seems like a good enough fellow as wizards go. So, what did you want?"

"To tell you the truth, we were ambushed by Goblins. Most of our luggage was left behind in their caves and we only escaped by the skin of our teeth."

"Goblins? What were you doing messing round by them then?"

"We did not expect to find them. They took us by surprise at night in a pass we had to cross as we were coming into these countries from the Lands of the West – it is a long tale,"

"Then you better come inside and tell me," Loki rolled his eyes.

**Thanks for everyone's support and everyone who has commented/followed/favourited, it means a lot to me.**


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